Egocentric [Book I]

Coming Back

When the last bell rang, Minah, Eunri and Nara went out together towards the gates. There stood Xiumin with his injured hands shoved in his pockets, leaning on the wall at the waiting shed. He straightened up when he saw Minah, and just stood there until they’ve reached him.

“Is Xiumin driving you home a regular thing now?” Nara whispered with a small smile, earning herself a hard elbow from Minah.

“Hi.” Xiumin greeted with a straight face, meeting Minah’s curious eyes. “I didn’t mean to ditch you earlier.”

“I want to say that’s fine with me, but I can’t.” Minah muttered under her breath, “Because it’s not. I looked like an idiot when you ran off.”

“Um...” Eunri cleared her throat and grabbed Nara’s uniform sleeve, slowly stepping away. “We’ll leave you two now.”

Minah quietly watched her friends go, giving them a small nod and a look of assurance that she’ll be okay. If it was the first week of school, neither of the girls would ever leave her alone with Xiumin knowing that they’re not in a good impression of each other, but this time is different.

She was sure that Xiumin wouldn’t get her into trouble, proving it that morning when he tried his best to get her away from Suho and Sehun... aside the fact that he left her in the hallway.

“Come on.” Xiumin spun on his heel and led Minah to the parking lot.

“Where are we going?” Minah asked when they both have settled in his car.

“I’m taking you home.” Xiumin said flatly.

“It’s not raining. I can walk.”

Xiumin didn’t talk anymore, but he didn’t start the car either. He grabbed onto the steering wheel and let his forehead rest against it, sighing heavily in frustration. Minah on the other hand, had no idea what to do because she didn’t know what was bothering him.

She cringed at the sight of his wounded hands and reached out to grip on his wrist, startling him a little bit as he looked up at her. It did the job though, because he loosened his grip on the wheel and let her do whatever she was doing.

Minah brushed a hand over the gashes on his knuckles, thinking of what the hell was running through Xiumin’s head that moment. His hand was warm, exactly like the first time she felt it wrap around hers.

“I hope you didn’t break anything.” Minah muttered, running her fingers gently over the wounds.

“I didn’t.” Xiumin replied, leaning back on his seat. He was just watching Minah examine his knuckles, subconsciously enjoying how he could get a close view of her concerned expression.

She’s indeed beautiful.

“Why did you run off?” Minah asked ever so softly, without gazing directly at Xiumin. “I’m not really expecting an explanation... but I think I deserve one.”

Six figures going towards the parking lot caught Xiumin’s eye, and he immediately started the car. It was bad enough that they’ve encountered the K leader and a member that morning, worse if they had to deal with all six of them now.

“We’ll talk somewhere else.”

He drove faster than usual to get them out of there and Minah had to speak up to simmer him down. They went to the direction of Minah’s home, but stopped halfway and parked.

“Don’t punch things, Xiumin.” Minah said, glancing once at his hands. “I know it’s a good way to release anger, but you’ll end up hurting yourself every time.”